Saturday, 22 February 2014

It had being almost a week since the last day of Chinese Lunar New Year (CNY) ended on 14 February 2014. And during that two weeks we get to meet up with relatives and friends as well as enjoying all the festive feast and family bonding time. With this summarized post I would like to share with you peeps on what we did during CNY as well as some festive food that we enjoyed.

Thursday, 17 October 2013

It has being more than two years since my last Eggless Dark Chocolate Ice Cream post till now. And recently I was motivated by some of my Instagram friends homemade ice cream posts which I decide to make this super easy "No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream" from Nigella Lawson site which you can easily whipped it up at home in less than 10 minutes.

In her website there are a few no-churn ice cream recipes and I have selected our favourite Coffee Ice Cream that used espresso powder and Kahlúa liqueur (instead of espresso liqueur mentioned in the original recipe) which satisfy the craving of coffee lovers like us.

COFFEE ICE CREAM(No Churn)

I love this recipe mainly because it is eggless plus you don't even need an ice cream maker. What you need to do is whisk up everything in a mixing bowl using electric beater and freeze it in air tight container. For my case, I used my Bosch ErgoMixx Hand Blender where I pour all the ingredients into the tall beaker and blend it till smooth.

Wednesday, 2 October 2013

In terms of the word "pudding" it can be used to describe both sweet and savory dishes like "cheese pudding", "bread and butter pudding", "Christmas pudding" and etc. For this post, I will be sharing a a low fat pudding using plain yogurt to replace the usual cream or egg found in most pudding recipes. And it can be easily whip up in less than 10 minutes, after which pop them into the fridge and serve it with your desire toppings.

PANDAN YOGURT PUDDING

In order to make it an Asian flavour I added some pandan paste to achieve a lovely green and aroma for this dessert. And for those staying overseas like United States, Australia, Japan, Europe and etc where you cannot easily access to fresh Pandan Leaves, I will suggest you can stock up a bottle or two of the Pandan Paste from your local Asian grocery stores. As these lovely paste do comes in handy when you want to make some Asian delights such as Pandan Chiffon Cake, Pandan Waffle, Nasi Lemak Rice and etc.

Monday, 2 September 2013

With a new gadget; Bosch ErgoMixx Hand Blender added to my kitchen pantry recently, I decided to work on a lunch menu to test out its features and functions on blend, process and whisk. And in this post, I will be sharing four recipes using those functions which I am quite happy with the end results.
Actually before using the hand blender I did a Google search on it's review; and I am pretty distracted with some of the negative reviews on it's universal cutter and blender. But all those worries are gone after I test out the blender with the recipes shown below and I am glad that now I can easily hand small amount of ingredients using this reliable blender.

Above is my set of Bosch MSM6 ErgoMixx Hand Blender which you can reader more on it's features and function in my product review post here.

BEETROOT AND POTATO SOUP

Beetroot is a "powerful" root vegetable which contains potassium, magnesium and iron as well as vitamins A, B6 and C, and folic acid which is good for the body. And I have also shared a few recipes using beetroot like ABC Power Cake which we all love. In this post I prepare a thick soup with beetroot, carrot and potato using my new Bosch hand blender and surprisingly the soup turns out great with a smooth texture and fragrance aroma from the bay leave (don't worry there is no raw beetroot taste at all).

To enjoy the soup, we top it with a dollar of Greek Yogurt (or you can use sour cream) and serve it together with some rustic bread which makes it a great hearty dish during cold days.

(Serves: 2 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 30 - 40 minutes)

Ingredients:

2 Medium Beetroot (250g)

1 Small Carrot (100g)

3 Medium Potatoes (250g)

1 Small Brown Onion, diced

1 Bay Leave

1 Teaspoon Olive Oil

1.5 Cup Chicken Broths

1 Cup Water

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Some Sour Cream / Greek Yogurt, optional

Method:-
1. Peel and dice beetroot, carrot and potato into small cubes. Set aside.

3. Add in beetroot, potato, bay leaves and chicken stock. Bring to boil and simmer for about 30 minutes or until beetroot is tender.

4. Remove from heat, take out the bay leave and use Bosch ErgoMixx Hand Blender to process the mixture on Speed 8 till smooth then season with salt and pepper.

5. Ladle soup into serving bowls, top with some sour cream and pepper. Serve warm with bread.

SESAME CHICKEN MEATBALL

This Sesame Chicken Meatballs makes it a great party/finger food for both Adults and Kids. It's super easy to prepare and you can even do a spicy version by adding 1 bird eye chilli and a stick of lemon grass to the existing ingredients.

In the past even though my family loves meatball, patty and etc, I don't usually prepared them at home because my existing Bosch food processor is way too "huge" to minced 150g of chicken breast or pork fillet. But now with my light weight hand blender everything seems like a breeze and I can easily prepared my minced meat within a minute or two (depending on the texture that you want).

Method:-
1. Using the Bosch Ergo Mixx Universal Chopper, place diced chicken, fish sauce, lime juice, ginger and rosemary in the provided container together with the blade and process using Speed 6 till almost smooth.

2. Remove the paste and hand roll about ½ tablespoon of the mixture into small round shapes.

3. Next coat it with sesame seeds and place on plate while repeating the rest of the chicken mixture.

Pancake is the easiest dish to prepare if you are looking for a quick breakfast idea. You can either make it sweet or savory by adding in different ingredients like cheese, bacon, carrot, tomato or even plain. Here with the help of my hand blender (balloon whisk), I can easily prepare my favourite (serve 1 - 2) wholemeal pancake without the need of taking out my electric beater.

Other than making corn fritter, I also like to add fresh sweetcorn kernels into my wholemeal pancake for that extra crunch and natural sweetness. For this recipe, you can swap between pumpkin or sweet potato depend on your preference and their availability in your pantry.

5. First fold in 1/3 of the whites into the flour mixture and stir till combined then follow by remaining whites and stir till no trace of white found.

6. Heat up a lightly oiled frying pan, pour ¼ cup of the batter for each pancake and cook until it is golden brown on both side.

7. Remove and keep warm, continue with the remaining batter.

8. Serve pancake with maple syrup or honey together with butter.

CHOCOLATE BANANA TOFU MOUSSE(Eggless version)

Love this "Eggless and Sugarless" Chocolate Mousse dessert to bits as it's very different from the normal chocolate mousse recipes which requires cream, eggs and sugar. Here cream is replace with "tofu" whereas egg and sugar is being replace by "banana" for a light and healthier version with natural sweetness mainly from banana and chocolate.

If using "raw egg" is an issue for you (I usually avoid recipe using raw egg) to avoid making chocolate mousse for the kids, perhaps you would like to try this version by using banana and tofu which I am sure it will be a much healthier dessert to prepare for the whole family.

(Serves: 4 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Chilling: 1 - 2 hours)

Ingredients:

200g Pressed Tofu

300g Ripe Banana

160g Dark Chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extra, optional

Method:-
1. Rinse and drain pressed tofu on kitchen paper towel.

2. Melt chocolate in a double-boiler over a pot of simmering water or microwave in a heatproof bowl for 1 minute on HIGH. Stir mixture till smooth and set aside.

4. Transfer the mixture into small sterilized bottle jars and keep in the fridge for about 2 hours till firm.

5. Serve with whipped cream or berries.

With the four step-by-step recipes above featuring different functions of the new Bosch MSM6 ErgoMixx Hand Blender I hope it will be of some help for those who is keen in getting a hand blender for their kitchen. Friendly speaking this hand blender do come in handy if you are working on small portion of ingredients especially for "baby/toddler" food or quick dishes like mashed potato, cream soup, pancake, muffin and etc. For more recipe ideas using Bosch kitchen products you can visit their recipe site @ http://www.bosch-home.com.sg/recipe-home-page.html

*All recipes and opinions expressed in this post are my own and there is no monetary compensation received.

Thursday, 7 February 2013

A few days back during our trip to Chinatown, I saw a stall selling Osmanthus Chestnut Cake (桂花马蹄糕) at a price of S$8.50 per box which gave me a shock. The price that they are selling per box is more than enough to replicate 3 similar boxes if you know how to make it at home. Although my recipe here might not be as authentic when compared to those sold outside in the shop but at least this is not a difficult dessert which you could do it at home for your guests or as a New Year gifts.

OSMANTHUS CHESTNUT CAKE桂花糕

According to the stall owner, Osmanthus Chestnut Cake is good to help cool down the body, detox as well as abdominal discomfort, toothaches, and bad breath. So a homemade gift like this for your guests, friends or loved ones this coming New Year would definitely made your effort worth it.

Method:-
1. Bring 1000ml water to boil together with pandan leaves and cane sugar (add caster sugar if using for a sweeter taste), lower the heat and simmer till sugar completely dissolved.

2.Turn off the heat, add in Osmanthus flower and infuse for about 2 minutes. Set aside.

3. Using a whisk, slowly mix chestnut powder with 500ml water until no lumps are found.

4. Pour Osmanthus liquid to the chestnut flour mixture.

5. Return the pot to stove on medium heat, add in water chestnut and keep on stirring the mixture until thicken and change to greyish colour. (refer to the photo above, row 2, column 1)

6. Scoop mixture into prepared pan(s), steamed over Medium High heat for 10 minutes, lower the heat to Medium and steamed for another 10 minutes.

7. Remove and cool completely, store in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight before serving.

Tip:
~ Chestnut flour is available in most supermarket, baking shops like phoon huat or some grocery stalls at the wet market. I bought mine for S$2.00 per box (250g)

~ If you cannot get hold of Osamanthus Flower, you can just ignore and use only Chestnut Flour and Fresh Water Chestnut to make Chestnut Cake (马蹄糕).

For us, there are two ways that you could enjoy this delicious dessert by either eat it cold on it's own from the fridge like any cold dessert. Or lightly dust the slices with with some cornflour (optional) and pan-fry it with a greased pan till both sides are slightly golden brown in colour. Personally I prefer the pan-fry version more but if on a hot day, the cold version will be a more refreshing after meal dessert.

To go along with the Osmanthus Chestnut Cake, I often brewed some Chrysanthemums Honey Tea with a teaspoon Osmanthus plus a few wolfberries which helps to cool down the body from the humid weather. But this drink could also be served as your daily after meal drink to ease digestion as well as refresh your mind and body system.

UPCOMING RECIPE!

With Chinese New Year just 3 days away, I would be sharing my final new year recipe, Braised Duck with Sea Cucumber hopefully by Friday. I hope with all the current and existing Chinese New Year recipes, you might able to find some inspirations to cook some home cooked dishes for your family to enjoy this festive season.

Monday, 4 February 2013

Thinking of what dessert to make this coming Chinese New Year? Why not try this super easy Osmanthus And Chestnut Koi Jelly which I am sure your guests would be impress with those cute and auspicious Koi Fish (锦鲤) and Ingot (元宝). With just 3 main ingredients such as Osmanthus Flower, Konnyaku Jelly and Water Chestnut you could easily replicated this dessert which is similar to Osmanthus Cake (桂花糕) but in jelly form rather than cake.

OSMANTHUS AND CHESTNUT KOI JELLY

For this jelly dessert I did not add any food colouring and the "golden colour" effect comes from the natural colour of the Osmanthus flowers itself. So if your prefer a darker colour, you could either add in a teaspoon more of the Osmanthus flower or a few drops of yellow food coloring. But if you cannot get hold of any Osmanthus Flower or Konnyaku Jelly, you could try another flavour instead of Osmanthus using Lemongrass with a reference recipe here.

As for the Koi And Ingot jelly mould, you could get it from Kitchen Caper. I bought mine with 3 different assorted mould for S$5.00 during their festive promotion.

(Serves: 4-6 | Preparation: 15 minutes | Cooking: 7 minutes)

Ingredients:

1 Packet Red Man Brand Konnyaku Premix Jelly Powder

1200ml Water

3 - 4 Teaspoons Osmanthus Flower

1.5 Tablespoons Wolfberries, soaked till soften

8 Water Chestnuts, skin removed and diced

1 Knot of Pandan Leave, optional

Method:-
1. In a pot, add 1200ml of water and bring to boil together with pandan leave for 3 minutes to infuse the water with pandan leave fragrance.

2. Lower the heat, add in osmanthus flowers and simmer on low heat for 2 minutes.

3. On the lowest heat, slowly stir in Konnyaku Jelly Powder using a balloon whisk or wooden spoon until powder fully dissolved. Turn off the heat and remove from stove.

4. Add 2 wolfberries (pre-soaked in water for 3 - 5 minutes till puff) and 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of water chestnut in each jelly mould (refer to the photo above).

5. Slowly pour in jelly solution into the prepared mould. Cool and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours to firm it before serving.

Osmanthus And Chestnut Koi Jelly

Steam Osmanthus Cod Fish

Glutinous Red Date With Osmanthus Syrup

Huiji Steamed Pomfret With Osmanthus

Osmanthus Honey Tea

If you have no time to involve yourself in the kitchen, perhaps a cup of this refreshing Osmanthus Honey Tea (recipe) will be great to help smoothing your mood as well as detoxification and beauty maintenance.

GIVEAWAYS

Lastly in order for those who are interested to try our Osmanthus Flower. I would be giving away 2 trial packet (4g each) of Osmanthus Flowers to 2 Lucky Readers to try out some of the related recipes that I have shared.

How To Win:-
1. Comment (on this post) which recipe with Osmanthus Flowers that you would like to try.

2. Click LIKE and SHARE the above photo over at Cuisine Paradise Facebook Page (here); AND

Leaving a comment (on facebook) that you have "Like And Share" the above.

Closing Date: 05 February 2013 (Tuesday), 12.00 NOON
*Giveaway is open to ALL READERS of Cuisine Paradise with a valid mailing address.

Wednesday, 30 January 2013

Last Saturday evening, a few of us get together to have an early Chinese New Year dinner over at my place. Although this was not the first time I prepared food for such as big group of friends other than my family, I am still very nervous and a bit stress up with planning the dishes as well as preparations.

Thanks to Jacob and Shiting who initiate to help up with the Yusheng as well as preparing the ingredients for the dishes in order to put this dinner together. I hope everyone enjoys the meal and I apologize if the dishes are not up to expectations due to my clumsy hands and mind in the kitchen :)

These were some of the key ingredients that I bought from the wet market (巴杀) during that morning. Sometime I really prefer getting my ingredients from the wet market as compared to supermarkets as I can go around the stalls comparing the prices as well as sourcing for fresh and money value ingredients.

Dinner Menu. Yusheng was prepared by Jacob (cookeatsnaplove) and his wife, Chloe. Whereas the main and dessert are prepared by Me with help from Shiting (lobsterpaints)

Chinese New Year cannot go without Yusheng (鱼生) or also known as Lo Hei which consists of colour shredded vegetables (carrot, radish, lettuce) and a variety of sauces and condiments plus crackers, raw fish and etc. I am very thankful to Jacob from Cooksnapeatlove who helps to contribute his very own Homemade Yusheng to add new year atmosphere for our dinner.

{Behind the scene} Jacob even bought along his own kitchen set for cutting the salmon as well as big plate to assemble the Yusheng. Kodus to Jacob and his wife Chloe for the effort. Thanks for the hard work friends.

FISH MAW SOUP

Chinese New Year is always packed with yummy food and you can find different versions of Fish Maw Soup, Shark Fins Soup, Salted Duck Soup and etc at most of the household during new year. Above is our version of Fish Maw Soup which I prepared for the dinner gathering last week to feed about 10 persons.

Method:-
1. Defrost the crab meat if it is frozen, rinse a few times and drained well. Place it a plate and steamed for about 5 minutes till cooked. Remove and flake it using a fork and set aside.

2. Next bring a pot of water to boil together with the chicken breast and a few slices of ginger and spring onion over medium high heat. When water comes to boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered for 6 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

3.Off the heat, stand chicken in the pot for another 5 minutes, drain well and when chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it and set aside.

4. Bring water to boil in a big pot, blanch fish maw in boiling water for 2 minutes, rinse with water, squeezed dry and repeat the process again for another 1 - 2 times to get ride of the oil and fishy smell.

5. When done, squeezed dry and cut into 1.5cm thick, set aside.

6. To Cook The Fish Maw Soup:- Bring 2 litres of chicken broth (pre-cooked or instant chicken broth) to boil. Add in prepared fish maw and 2 slices of ginger, simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes or until fish maw is soften to your preferred texture.

7. Next add in black fungus, sea cucumber, mushrooms and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes before adding in crab meat and shredded chicken to simmer for 3 minutes.

8. Lastly stir in dark soy sauce for the colour (optional) and season the soup with salt and fish sauce if requires. Thicken the soup with cornstarch solution.

9. Remove from heat, stir in egg white and serve with pepper and black vinegar.

Teochew Style White-spotted Rabbitfish (recipe) is one of my favourite Chinese New Year dish. And usually during CNY "White-spotted Rabbitfish(白肚鱼/拜年鱼)" will be available at all wet markets as well as the seafood sections at major supermarkets. And these fish taste especially good during this season and some even comes with roes that are particularly relished too.

Growing up in a Teochew family, we simply love steamed fish especial White/Sliver Pomfret (白鲳), Threadfin (午鱼) or White Spotted Rabbitfish (白肚鱼). For my version the fish is usually steamed with tomatoes, salted plums / salted vegetables, cut chilli, ginger and spring onions. Sometime shiitake mushrooms and tofu are also added for flavour too. You can refer a similar post on how to prepare this Teochew Style Steamed Golden Pomfret at the provided link here.

SIMMER CHICKEN WINGS WITH LEMONGRASS

Chicken Wing With Lemongrass is quite similar to Sesame Chicken (麻油鸡) which is cooked using sesame oil and lot of ginger during confinement. But the different between the them is the chicken for this lemongrass dish is infused with lemongrass fragrant leaving it an aromatic dish even just to have it alone with steamed white rice.

In the previous gathering I did another version of prawn dish which was known as Steamed Drunken Prawns (recipe) whereby I soaked the prawns in rice wine for about 10 minutes before steaming to infuse it with a light and sweet wine taste. But for the above dish, instead of wine I decided to go for something more herbal which I used Dang Gui (Angelica) and Ginseng to prepare this "养身菜 (healthy herbal dish)".

Tofu (豆腐)is a very flexible ingredient which you could add into soup, using it for steaming, stir-fry and etc. I love tofu especially those silken type of steamed tofu which is topped with minced meat. Here, for this Steamed Tofu With Century Egg And Pork Floss, I have combined a few of my favourite ingredients such as tofu, century egg and pork floss which give it an unique flavour. And for other tofu dishes which you are keen to read more, you could refer to the link here.

4. Add in marinated minced meat and give it a quick stir before adding in the mushrooms and stir-fry till aromatic.

5. Pour in seasoning sauce and bring it to boil. Simmer for a while and thick with cornstarch solution.

6. Spoon minced meat mixture around the side of the tofu, top with chicken/pork floss and garnish with some spring onion or coriander. Serve immediately.

CLAYPOT RICE WITH CHINESE SAUSAGE
( 腊味煲饭)

Usually during Chinese New Year you would find all sort of preserved meat such as ham, duck, liver, sausages and etc available in supermarkets or Chinatown area. And for this pre year near dinner, I decided to make a claypot rice using some of the assorted preserved meat plus arrowhead.

The preserved meat and sausages enhanced the flavour and aroma of the rice whereas arrowhead add-on another texture when cooked together with the rice. I have another two similar versions of claypot rice, one using Happy Call Pan (recipe) and the other using Claypot (recipe) which you might be interested to take a look too.

Method:-
1.Wash and rinse the rice, pre-soaked it for at least one hour.

2. Blanch the preserved meat and sausages in boiling water for 10 seconds, drained. Remove the outer skin of the sausages, sliced both the wax meat and sausages. Set aside.

3. Bring rice (if using claypot the amount of water used is: 2 part water 1 part rice) and arrowhead to boil over high heat. (do not over or else it might overflow)

4.When the water almost dry up, lower the heat and arrange the prepared meat and sausages on the rice. Drizzle oil around the side of the claypot and let the mixture continue to simmer for another 8 - 10 minutes.

5. Turn off the heat and let the rice continue to cook (dry up) from the heat of the claypot for another 10 - 15 minutes.

6. Arrange the blanched vegetables at the side and drizzle some of the prepared soy sauce mixture over and serve.

Tip:
~ Rinse the arrowhead after cutting to remove the starch before adding it into the rice to cook.

~ To Blanched The Vegetables: Bring a pot of water to boil together with 1 teaspoon of oil and pinch of salt. Blanch the vegetables for 10 seconds, removed and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Apart from the Yusheng and Main Dishes that we had. I also prepared a dessert like Osmanthus And Chestnut Koi Jelly (recipe) plus a door gift with CNY flavour in it known as Longan And Cranberry Yogurt Cake (recipe).

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Cuisine Paradise is a Singapore base food blog featuring food recipes, food reviews and travelogues. Currently we have a collection of more than 800 tested and tried recipes from Asian Cuisines to Western Bakes.